First Civil Jet Flies on 100 Percent Non-Food Biofuel

The first civil jet to fly on 100 percent biofuel that meets petroleum jet fuel specifications took to the skies Oct. 29 in Ottawa, Ontario. Other commercial jets, such as Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, have flown using biofuel blended with petroleum-based jet fuel. But this flight, engineered by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, is the first worldwide to use unblended biofuel in a commercial, non-military aircraft (a Falcon 20), according to the NRC.

First-generation biofuels based on crops have been under fire for some time because of their competition with human food and animal feed. Recently, the European Commission (EC) called for even stricter limits on the amount of food crops that can be turned into biofuels used in transportation. The EC is also promoting the use of second- and third-generation biofuels produced from algae, straw, and waste feedstocks.

Canada's National Research Council and the Canadian Space Agency have used the Falcon 20 jet, with modified hydraulic and aircraft fuel systems, for performing parabolic flight maneuvers in microgravity experiments. (Source: Canadian Space Agency)

The biofuel used in the flight is not based on a food crop. Instead, it was made from oilseed (Brassica carinata), a mustard and canola relative, developed by Applied Research Associates and Agrisoma Biosciences for the commercial airline industry. The fuel, called ReadiJet, was transformed by Applied Research Associates and Chevron Lummus Global. Applied Research Associates says it has developed a new proprietary process, catalytic hydrothermolysis, to produce the fuel from plants and algae. According to the company, the fuels can be used in existing turbine and diesel engines designed for petroleum fuels.

Agrisoma Bioscience Inc. has commercialized the industrial oilseed crop as Resonance Energy Feedstock. It's designed to grow in semi-arid regions, such as the southern prairies in western Canada, and is now being produced on a commercial scale. This year, more than 40 commercial farmers will grow the crop on more than 6,000 acres to make the biofuel. Agrisoma said in a press release that, to date, flights on biofuels have used blends with, at most, 50 percent biofuel combined with petroleum-based jet fuel.

The Falcon 20 aircraft that flew on the biofuel is a twin-engine commercial jet used by the National Research Council for conducting experiments. For example, the aircraft's hydraulic and fuel systems have been modified so it can perform parabolic flight maneuvers to achieve zero gravity for 15 to 25 seconds. The Falcon 20 also provides electrical power and data acquisition systems.

In the recent test flight, the Falcon 20 was followed by a T-33 jet aircraft, which collected information on the emissions produced by the oilseed-based biofuel. The NRC's research scientists will analyze this data to gauge the fuel's environmental impact.

Preliminary results are expected in the next few weeks. The research project is funded by the Canadian government's Clean Transportation Initiatives, and the Green Aviation and Development Network.

As Mydesign asked earlier, what's the cost? Fuel cost is an airline's biggest expense. How much will these biofuels save them? If there's no savings, there's no way they will adopt its use. I hope taxpayers won't have to subsidise this like the current $2.21/gal hidden tax we're getting stuck with using ethenol blends in our cars.

Nice article, Ann. This test flight is good news no matter where the biofuel comes from. It's a step is a positive direction. Different crop growers will experiment with crops that match efficiency and regulation as they move on and expand biofuels programs.

Lou, thanks for the clarification. The fact that not all semi-arid areas are found between those two Tropics plus the fact that wild mustard grows in semi-arid areas in the SF Bay Area tells us that the plant family can grow wild outside of the "tropics" as you've defined them. Even more likely when engineered by humans in one way or another. Maize (corn) is a perfect example: it began as a radically different plant in Mexico and several hundreds of years later was cultivated in astonishing variety all the way from the tropics to the Northern Plains. So I'm not sure why you conclude that this plant is not suited to the Canadian climate.

Ann, thanks for the clarfiication. By tropic I mean the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, not necessarily a wet area. This is where a lot of, but not all, of the type of land that might be useful for this crop. It still doen not correspond with any area of Canada, which is interesting. They have plenty of oil and lots of land. I would have thought they would be looking at crops appropriate to their climate.

Mydesign, specific prices were not mentioned, but the fact that this is a crop being grown industrially in large quantities bodes well. Applied Research Associates says the ReadiJet fuel is "low cost" due to the catalytic hydrothermolysis process, http://www.ara.com/fuels/CH-Technology-Status.html which "provides a net cost savings compared to straight hydrotreating and hydrocracking processes. The cost savings result from the reduction of hydrogen and catalyst cost consumption and the production of high-value chemicals." To me, what's most important is the fact that this fuel's performance is good enough to work unblended.

Lou, it's not tropical areas where these Brassica plants and their relatives grow, which would be much too moist, but arid and semi-arid regions, many of which are near the equator. Brassica carinata, the one described in the article, is also called Ethiopian mustard, for instance. A variety of wild mustard even grows in the foothills of the San Francisco Bay Area every spring on very poor, dry, non-irrigated soil used for horse and cattle pastures. The point is, it does not compete with agricultural crops, which aren't grown, or likely to be grown, on the same poor soil where the Brassica grows. There are several species with these characteristics being considered or used for biofuel.

Ann, I find it interesting that Canada is looking at these crops. They generally only grow in tropical, or semi-tropical, regions. One that I am familiar with is jatropha. While it is being used, and is touted as a plant that can be turned into aviation fuel, its impact is very small.

Another issue with any crop that is grown on land is that, although the crop is not a food crop, it can compete with food crops for land. Algae and seaweed do not have this problem.

Ann, aviation fuels are the purest form of crude oil with a higher cost. So any alternate to crude oil based aviation fuel will have a greater impact on aviation sector. What about the cost factor?, if cost is less than crude oil, then obliviously it will helpful for the low cost carriers.

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